Guest post – Broken Promise – The promise we are glad Abbott has broken

May 28, 2014

Peter Wicks

 

It has come to light that Tony Abbott and the Coalition are set to break yet another election promise.

Unlike all of the other broken promises however I don’t think we will be seeing a backlash from the public over this one, although some sections of the public will no doubt be disappointed.

Fairfax has revealed that George Brandis is backing down to decency and public outcry over his proposed changes to the Racial Discrimination Act, in what has become known as the Section 18C Attack, or the Bolt Bill.

Those who will no doubt be disappointed over Abbott’s latest broken promise will be some of the most influential to the Coalition.

Racists, Bogans, Nazis and bigots will together with shock-jocks, right-wing columnists, Senator Cory Bernardi and of course Attorney General George Brandis will no doubt mourn this day as a loss for freedom of speech, along with other Coalition MPs.

The freedom they desperately sought was the freedom to racially vilify people. The freedom to use words as a weapon and reduce people to an object that is easy to hate as Hitler did so effectively with his anti-Semitic propaganda designed to dehumanise Jews on his rise to power.

We all remember how badly that ended…

This freedom to vilify and preach hate was of course the promise that Tony Abbott and George Brandis made to columnist Andrew Bolt, and thankfully they have failed to deliver.

The promise was made after Bolt was found guilty of breaching the Discrimination Act in 2011 in Federal Court.

This is one promise I am glad to hear the Abbott government breaking, although it will no doubt lead to months of publicly crying like a baby from Andrew Bolt and others like him.

Andrew Bolt must be fighting back the tears

To those of us who accept people from all walks of life and backgrounds without judgement this is a huge win. It is a huge win also because it has proven that if there is a large enough outcry the government elected to represent us will eventually listen to us and may truly represent us instead of their nutty mates.

Australians have spoken with a united voice on this issue and boldly stated that it is not acceptable to vilify someone due to their race in this country.

Australians have heeded the old saying of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”.

Australians accept that we are part of a multicultural society and that means that we should accept people of all races as they are part of the fabric of our great nation.

We’ve been a multicultural society ever since us white folk invaded aboriginal land.

It also shows that Australians are wise enough to recognise that the campaign of fear being perpetrated by those on the right is not working.

The campaign I speak of is the campaign that attempts to portray the extremists and the radical as part of the norm within some sections of society. An example of this would be the campaign about how one day we will have sharia law in Australia if we don’t do something now, as that is what all Muslims are apparentlyseeking.

I’m sure most of you have heard something along a similar line.

This is of course complete and utter crap. We are more likely to see Elvis as our Prime Minister than we are to introduce sharia law here.

Much to the displeasure of the racists and right-wingers we are an overwhelmingly decent society and we long to remain so.

As much as Andrew Bolt and others like him may subtly preach hate and fear, sadly for them most of their listeners and readers aren’t that easily led and are quite capable of differentiating between political commentary and the rantings of a fuckwit.

On this broken promise from the Coalition, I have two words to say.

I say these two words not because of any religious views (I’m an atheist), but because I think today is a great day to be proud of our nation’s ability to accept others and to make a stand against racism in all its forms, plus I can think of no other words that will piss off the right wingers more.

Praise Allah.
 
Follow Wixxy at his blog Wixxyleaks

Andrew Bolt spits the dummy, takes his toys and goes home

#QandA

But the accusation bruised Bolt so badly he stayed at home the following day, presumably clutching a security blanket.

In her comments Marcia Langton actually referred to Justice Bromberg’s judgement delivered in September 2011.

[The plaintiffs] Were reasonably likely, in all the circumstances, to have been offended, insulted, humiliated or intimidated by the imputations conveyed by the newspaper articles

— JUDGMENT, Bromberg J, Federal Court of Australia, Eatock v Bolt , 28th September, 2011

i.e. the conditions necessary for a finding that a racist act had been committed had been proven.

We are still waiting two years later for the eminent judge to be the subject of a dummy spit.

And Mike Carlton expressed it beautifully

Now let’s see what Bolt wrote in his very own column.

Now after Price and Bolt had finished bullying Marcia Langton on air along came listener “Warren”.

Remember Bolt likes to portray himself as a champion of “free speech”. Guess that means free speech only for him and his kind.

For instance he had this to say about Indigenous academic Dr Misty Jenkins (as quoted by Paul Barry)

She (Professor Langton) then talked about her colleague Dr Misty Jenkins, whom Bolt had described in a previous column as “a blonde and pale science PhD who calls herself Aboriginal”

Errr…Misty Jenkins is Aboriginal

Now Bolt might be interested to know that it is not just Indigenous people who are offended by his words and their implications about Misty Jenkins.

And full marks to “Warren” for expressing our thoughts.

Source

Andrew Bolt: his rights our freedom

Tony Abbott and George Brandis – champions of “freedom of speech” hate speech

Flushed with the recent victory of its owner Rupert Murdoch in the Federal elections, The Australian decided to highlight what it obviously considers as a triumph for the new regime and a number one priority.

Budget cuts announced? Talks with regional partners? Business taxes? Education?

No folks, it was this (paywall).

NB If you type the article title into the Google search box you will be able to read the whole article

Some highlights (or lowlights) of the article

TONY Abbott plans to roll back Labor’s laws that limit free speech on the basis of not “giving offence”, defend religious freedom and reform the Australian Human Rights Commission.

When conservatives use the word “reform” it inevitably means a backward step. So until we hear otherwise it no doubt means that that the AHRC is going to be stifled, its powers reduced and its individual commissioners cut in number.

This would involve amending the Racial Discrimination Act, which prohibits remarks that offend others on grounds of race or ethnicity. This was the provision used to prosecute newspaper columnist Andrew Bolt.

So rabble-rousing second-rate hacks and aggro shock jocks, along with the bogotariat in the ‘burbs we deal with here will be given open slather to hate and vilify.

The text of the Act is here

Quote from Abbott:

” ….then we’ve got to allow people to say things that are unsayable in polite company

So Abbott is not only sanctioning the race to the bottom, he is happy to stand there with the starter pistol.

Tony Abbott explores the bottom

Mr Abbott’s stance on championing the right of free speech also involves support for the position of Senator Brandis that the Human Rights Commission Act may need to be amended to guarantee reform in its outlook and its promotion of traditional democratic freedoms.

In other words the AHRC, the main national safeguard against defamation and vilification of minorities, a body whose reach retired MP and former Attorney-General Nicola Roxon was hoping to strengthen and extend, is to be totally gutted – all in the name of protecting and nurturing those shonks who do not need protection.

Senator Brandis has attacked the Human Rights Commission as “an anti-discrimination commission” with little attachment to classical human rights.

Well hey George, how do you intend to go about protecting the rights of the vulnerable and the powerless….oh wait…?

Back in March we foreshadowed such changes to the Racial Discrimination Act on this blog. We can probably say that vilified minorities will have no choice in seeking remedies but to submit to the expensive and long process of civil court litigation.

Or, as is no doubt hoped by Brandis, they will silently endure defamation, harassment and vilification to keep happy all of those pure-at-heart libertarians, including members of his own party.

So is Brandis going to abolish the protected status MPs and Senators enjoy under parliamentary privilege? Like Liberals Corey Bernardi and Luke Simpkins for instance?

In fact the appalling far right stink think tank Institute of Public Affairs (IPA), a frat boy grooming club and finishing school for future Coalition pollies, has suggested that “market forces” will punish discrimination.

Yeah right…

Courts are generally rightly concerned about the impacts of racism and bigotry and sympathetic towards its unfortunate victims. However successful litigation costs money. Minorities do not have the money, sometimes do not have the language skills to easily describe their distress and sometimes do not have the experience to successfully navigate the system.

The landmark findings against anti-Semitic vilification Gutnick v Dow Jones & Company Inc, upheld later on appeal, came firstly from a case mounted by an individual with considerable personal resources and secondly from an aggrieved Jewish organisation.

The second matter resulted in contempt charges against the defendant who refused to remove anti-Semitic material from a website.

More recently a case was brought against Andrew Bolt by nine prominent Indigenous people disgusted by Bolt’s references to their ancestry and skin colour.  Mike Carlton outlines its results here. The point of the case was not so much that these prominent people necessarily felt personally humiliated by the sneeringly patronising venal remarks made by Bolt. They would not have been surprised because like us they know full well that Bolt is an ignorant boofhead kept on a chain in Murdoch’s stable specifically to stir up those stupid enough to read his drivel.

The point was that not only were they appearing in court for themselves but they represented people who would have been aggrieved and hurt but who would not necessarily have had the wherewithal or the power to pursue such a case.

It would be desirable that all those demeaned and vilified by racists and bigots could easily and affordably access legal remedies, and that the law was enabling such access.

However it looks like the Coalition is keen to close off one of these avenues, so keen that it was one of its first announcements after what has been a puzzling policy vacuum.

The Coalition and those it protects will find out that letting the dogs loose works both ways

Read more

Senator George Brandis wants you offended and insulted

Andrew Bolt: his rights, our freedom reblogged by us here

Nuts come out after the truth has bolted

First Dog: The Brian Crumpette Show

Tony Abbott: The thinking cat’s crumpet

We have it all here as the Leader of the Opposition takes typical fearful foil-hat bogot talkback calls with “Brian Crumpette”.

Source

Feel free to speak about whatever I want you to

The Australian Independent Media Network

Part A

In an address to the IPA titled “Freedom Wars”, Tony Abbott declared that it is his intention to repeal s18C of the Racial Discrimination Act, claiming that this section of the Act impacts upon Freedom of Speech. This ideal of freedom of speech is that which we should all aspire to, however, as a friend once stated: You mean the freedom to be an asshole. We will explore this later.

The text of the Racial Discrimination Act 1975 (Cth) can be found via Austlii.

Section C18 of the Act, that being which Tony Abbott so vehemently opposes concerns offensive behaviour because of race, colour or national or ethnic origin. That’s correct, it’s offensive behaviour, with the specifics being:

For an act to be unlawful it must fulfill the following criteria:

• that the action causes words, sounds, images or writing to be communicated to the public; or…

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Kicking Against The Pricks

A slightly different take on Eddie McGuire’s comments

WixxyLeaks

Like many others I awoke to the news that Eddie McGuire did not need to take the “phone a friend” option to say something stupid.

I won’t repeat what Eddie said as it was stupid and foolish, and clearly many people took offense at it. Although it’s available all though the press, and you’ve probably heard it anyway.

I will however say some things in Eddie’s defence if I may.

In the context of how it they were used, his words were clearly meant as a joke. Now I know that is not an excuse, however I think the line with jokes comes down to intent.

I don’t believe Eddie had a malicious intent when he uttered the words he is clearly now regretting. He now seems genuinely upset that he has foolishly caused offense.

He has however done the right thing so far, he has fronted up and…

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I’m not a racist, but I know when “those people” have a right to be offended!

The Australian Independent Media Network

 

Andrew Bolt: “Collingwood was being thrashed and when the bearded Goodes took another possession in front of her, she shouted “ape”.

This is very rude. I wonder at her parents. It’s also possibly racist, though she insisted she didn’t mean it that way. Whatever, she needed a talking-to.

Goodes heard the abuse, and pointed her out to security. A bit over the top, since she’s so young, but Goodes has Aboriginal ancestry and no doubt understandably feels such insults more keenly than I think reasonable.”  

Ok, if you’ve read the article in question, you may be angry. You may have been convinced that Andrew eloquently argues that the poor thirteen year old has been given some pretty shabby treatment.

Whatever! (Or, in case there are 13yo’s reading this: woteva!!!)

But I felt I couldn’t let this comment slip past without me going against my basic belief that talking…

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Wannabe Cr David Donis and His Anti Gay, Anti Feminist, Pro Rape, Pro Nazi Rant

David Donis, on the people murdered by Anders Brievik:

“After causing the destruction of their own civilisation I’m [sic] sure those people on that island had a moment of regret when the gun was pointed at their faces. Same goes for the feminists when they get gang raped, same goes for the gays when they get aids [sic]…”

Neo-Nazi “Jay” and his dummy spit

Online Opinion is in its own words “a not-for-profit e-journal that aims to provide a forum for public social and political debate about current Australian issues. We publish articles to stimulate a public discourse on a range of topics.”

A recent article by journalist Alan Austin discussed the proposed amendments to a range of Commonwealth anti-discrimination laws. These amendments are designed to consolidate several pieces of existing legislation and to simplify the process of making complaints under this legislation.

What the release of the draft legislation is designed to do is to enable discussion by members of the public, advocacy groups and the legal profession.

So it was not surprising to see that a range of bottom-feeders had manage to lurch and slither over from their usual haunts

Racists, bigots, white supremacists, Andrew Bolt fans…

Let’s take a look at one of them – a full-blown neo-Nazi, no doubt amazed at actually getting to post in a mainstream web forum read by real people.

Nice change from Scumfront.

His ethnic group? Neo-Nazi is not an ethnic group.

And what a procession of racist losers he cites. Every one of them deserves every expression of loathing which comes their way.

This is what “Jay” and his kind do not get. No-one who is either sane or normal would embrace the loathsomeness of race hatred and white supremacy.

And what “Jay” and his kind need to learn now is that he speaks only for himself and his daft friends. He does not and never will speak for us.

“Anti-racists who look like me”? Jeez we hope not…

Oh noooooes!!!

Oh look we upset “Jay” and got a mention! Nice to see we are doing the right thing.

Oh, and that vdare place? If you’ve seen Scumfront then vdare is that site’s mutant little brother.

So?

Ron Munro Publicly Calls for Killing of Prime Minister

“Truly, she needs shooting.”

By the way, this came courtesy of Andrew Bolt’s blog. He has deemed it appropriate for publication.

More from Ron

Note that Wonnie is a proud supporter of the ragtag street thugs calling themselves the ADL.

Wonnie wasn’t too happy with our previous Prime Minister either

Fortunately for Australia the ADF (specifically the RAAF Airfield Defence Guard) have rid themselves of Wonnie but you can report threats to Commonwealth officials (including politicians) via this Australian Federal Police form.